Prenatal whole-gene sequencing expected to pose doctor challengesAmerican Medical News Share Geneticists soon will be able to identify an unborn child's risk of developing chronic diseases later in life and possibly shed light on other traits, such as athletic ability and intelligence, medical experts say. The procedure — prenatal whole genome sequencing — is not yet available in the clinical setting. But some health professionals expect that pediatricians and family doctors soon will be sifting through sequencing results of infants and older children.More

British mothers flying to US for procedure to choose baby genderDaily Mail Share Dozens of British women each year are heading to America to defy the U.K. ban on choosing the sex of their baby. Gender selection is illegal in Britain, but couples wanting to balance their family are flying to New York and even as far Los Angeles, where doctors are prepared to help them have a boy or a girl.More

Now Hiring! Disability Examination ProvidersThe VA Locum Tenens Program seeks physicians and psychologists to perform disability examinations for general medicine and mental health conditions. Physicians will provide compensation and pension examinations for Veterans who file for disability claims. This position requires extensive travel around the country. Compensation package includes salary and full travel. Send your CV to locumtenens@va.gov or contact us at 1-866-664-1030.

Scientists find happiness gene in womenMedical Daily Share For reasons that scientists have not conclusively determined, women are happier than men. And now, researchers think that they may have pinpointed one of the reasons for that. They have found a gene in women that predicts the level of happiness in women.
More

Biotech/Diagnostics/Personalized Medicine

The cancer 'breakthroughs' that cost too much and do too littleNewsweek Share In his more than 35 years of practice, Dr. Lowell Schnipper has seen a lot of women die from breast cancer. A patient's options start to dwindle by the time tumor cells set up outposts in the bones, lungs, and other organs, defying all attempts to keep them under control. But recently, when the government approved Perjeta, Schnipper had something new to offer. The drug is one of an innovative class of drugs known as "targeted therapies."More

CARDIODX®Your patient's blood doesn't tell you that they will get tired walking the dog. Or that they've had heartburn for the past 2 weeks. But it can tell you whether or not obstructive CAD is what's causing their symptoms. You may not need to go deeper than the blood to know what's happening. MORE

Effective clinical decision support could routinely implement personalized medicineCMIO Share Genetically guided personalized medicine's potential will not be fully realized until it can be incorporated into routine daily healthcare. Clinical decision support could help propel it there, but research proving its effectiveness is absent, according to a review published by the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. More

Court rules controversial stem cell research is legalNBC News Share The federal government may continue to pay for controversial human embryonic stem cell research, a federal appeals court ruled. The three-judge panel says the government has correctly interpreted a law that bans the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos for research. The ruling is unlikely to put the issue to rest and one of the judges pleaded for Congress to make clear what the government should and should not be able to do.More

Stem cells of fat cells can repair cartilage, ease arthritis painMedical Daily Share Millions suffer from pain and loss of mobility due to osteoarthritis, which occurs when cartilage at the ends of the bone breaks down. Stem cell researchers have been trying to find a way of re-growing cartilage tissue in the lab from the patients' fat cells. This approach would result in the body accepting the new tissue as its own, reducing any risk of rejection.More

Emerging Medical Technologies

Swallowable device may take procedure out of gastric balloonsMedCity News Share It might look like a drug, but a new weight loss pill under development by a Massachusetts startup is actually a device in disguise. Allurion Technologies has created what's essentially an intragastric balloon that fills up the stomach with the intention of inducing a feeling of satiety that would help overweight and obese patients eat less and lose weight. More

Covidien wins FDA clearance for surgical stapler systemReuters Share Covidien said it had won clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its iDrive Ultra powered stapling system, a tool used during surgery. This comes after the medical device and products maker recalled its Duet product, which was used to reinforce tissues after stapling. After reports of complications, Covidien said it would stop manufacturing the product.More

Managed Healthcare News

Patients negotiate for care with cashSan Francisco Chronicle Share A part of a new breed of healthcare consumer is emerging — people who pay such a large portion of their health costs that they're questioning the value of insurance. And because they're footing so much of the bill, they feel they owe it to themselves to get a decent price. Sometimes that means shopping around for prices for blood work or offering to pay cash for a procedure in exchange for a discount.More

Affordable Care Act driving healthcare mergersThe Washington Post Share Two of the region's corporate giants — one focused on government health insurance, the other specializing in communities for seniors — were acquired by larger industry players recently, as consolidation heats up in health-related sectors.More

FDA: New Treatments and Technology

FDA approves 4-in-1 HIV combination pillThe Associated Press via USA Today Share The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new anti-HIV pill that combines four medicines to combat the virus that causes AIDS. The agency approved Gilead Sciences' Stribild as a once-a-day treatment to control HIV in adults who have not previously been treated for infection.More

Drug shortage dilemma: Trying new tactics in a tough arenaOncLive Share Fresh strategies for grappling with the chronic, and at times critical, shortages of cancer drugs that have frustrated the oncology community for the past decade are likely to help alleviate supply problems, oncology and pharmaceutical leaders say. Yet they predict that forging significant and lasting improvements will be difficult due to the complexity of the issues underlying the shortages.More

FAST FACTS"Gastric bypass could be an option for people with body mass index of 40 or higher, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some surgeons prefer gastric bypass because it generally has fewer complications than other weight-loss surgeries."

This edition of the Genomics Biotech and Emerging Medical Technologies Institute eBrief was sent to ##Email##. To unsubscribe, click here. Did someone forward this edition to you? Subscribe here — it's free!